"Let's Roll" - Teams in Crisis and Change

3 Things Managers/Team Members Must Do

No doubt you recall where you were when you heard the news a decade ago. As we approach the ten year anniversary of 9/11, many people's thoughts will be taken back to that day of crisis. Recently, I was reflecting about the story of Todd Beamer.

Briefly, Todd Beamer was on flight United Airlines 93 from Newark that crashed with hijackers in rural Pennsylvania. While on the plane, once he became aware of the larger context of what was going on during that historic day, he is known for taking action to the best of his ability to derail the hijackers’ plans. As he ended a call to customer service via sky-phone, the woman on the other end of the line recalls the words she heard him utter to his fellow passengers, "Let's roll". If you google his story, you will read about his courage to act in crisis. I continue to be fascinated by the capacities of individuals when they are fully engaged.

We frequently ask what one word sums up the last decade or two - the response is "Change". Today every person, every team, every manager, every CEO and every organization has experienced that what worked 10 years ago or even 3 years ago is not working today. Some organizations (or individuals) who fail to innovate and change run the risk of becoming obsolete. Think the demise of Blockbuster vs. the change of IBM, or the evolution of Yellow Pages to succeed with new digital solutions.



How does an organization develop a propensity to face the future calmly, regardless of the degree of crisis they face in their markets? By leading their people with clarity of purpose, coaching and engaging them in order to leverage their talents through full deployment of their discretionary efforts. Here is a summary of three things organizations, managers and team members need to do:

1) To engage your people - ask, don't tell. Leverage team strengths by using a coaching style that emphasizes reciprocal communication, vs. the "dictatorial boss" mentality. We hear this theme over and over again from client groups.

2) Work together without ego. When you respect and leverage the strengths of different personality styles, you maximize your returns. Each style responds differently to change - if you don't get this right, you'll have unproductive conflict and less than 100% engagement.

3) Know when to lead and when to follow. If you are a manager, develop the courage to implement the strategies that will lead to overall greatest organizational success - not just the ones that were your idea. Again, put the ego aside and seek the best ideas from your team.

Remember, teams and organizations don't get results - people do. Developing a "Let's Roll" team culture takes time and effort, but the organizations that do will outperform their competition.

Make it an awesome day,